Glorious Groceries

By Karena D. Bailey

I am convinced that these heavenly beings exist and that they provide unseen aid on our behalf.

~Billy Graham

In the summer of 2004, I had moved to a new area in the Colorado Rockies for a change of pace and to enjoy the clean mountain air. I had lived in California for many years and always dreamed of a simple life in the mountains.

Although my new town was beautiful, I had a difficult time finding work. Opportunities were limited for professionals in the resort-like area, and my intended job fell through. I ran out of money trying to find a job after several months. I was alone and stranded.

In October, I became very ill with a rare intestinal infection. It was the beginning of my first winter in central Colorado, and I wasn't accustomed to the harsh weather. I had no job, no health insurance, and few friends in my new town. I was sleeping on the floor of a new friend's vacant rental property. Despite the challenges I faced, I had no choice but to get up every day and pull myself together for job interviews.

Toward Christmastime, I secured a part-time job in a mall store and made enough money to put gas in my car, pay a few bills, and eat at least one meal every day. It was life changing to see people spending money on Christmas gifts when I could barely afford a meal. Some days I didn't eat much at all. Since I needed strength to regain my health, I sat in my car in the parking lot after work one evening and prayed. I prayed deeply and specifically. I asked the angels, my guides, and the loving higher power to hear my request for food. "I need to eat a decent meal, Lord God and Angels on High," I prayed. "I need food so that I can get well and go on with my purpose for being here. I can help no one when I am this low. Please hear me." When I drove back home that night, I was driving on pure faith.

Twenty minutes later, I pulled into the driveway. The snow crunched under my tires, and the wipers strained to push the ice from my windshield. Although the car window was foggy, I noticed something on the porch. I blinked a few times and slowly exited my car, looking all around for any sign of someone who might have paid me a visit. I saw no one, but there on my dimly lit porch sat two brown bags filled with groceries.

My mind raced. Who could have left me this glorious gift of food? I'd been private about the depth of my financial crisis, even to my family back east. No one, including my family, knew where I lived. It could have only been a neighbor or the woman who owned the rental property. There was no other possibility. I knocked on my neighbors' doors to ask about the food. No one had knowledge of it. Then I called the owner of the rental. She said, "I wish it had been me, but it wasn't. I'm stuck here and couldn't have made it down there in this weather."

The most amazing aspect of the mystery groceries is that they included some of my favorite foods. If I had been given fifty dollars to buy myself groceries that night, I'd have purchased many of the same items that were left clandestinely on my porch. To this day, no one has taken credit for the gift. In a way, those two bags of groceries saved my life. I had good food to eat. I became stronger and got better physically. After the gift of the groceries, my faith was strengthened, and my spiritual vigor increased. It was only a few weeks later that I was offered a good job in my profession, and able to move into a healthy environment within two months. You might say that the groceries were a most miraculous Christmas gift, because they were the injection of positive energy I needed to go on.

Of course, many logical explanations went through my mind. Perhaps someone ordered groceries from a nearby store and they were delivered to my porch by mistake. Maybe an acquaintance left them anonymously, so as to avoid hurting my pride. Or, maybe a local non-profit organization or shelter heard about my plight and sent the groceries. Although I researched these possibilities, I only reached dead ends. I came to accept that there might not be a logical explanation for the gift, and I made peace with the fact that I had received a Christmas miracle.

Who was listening to my prayer on that cold winter night in Colorado? And who was it that had the power to deliver bags of groceries, a tangible gift to my doorstep? I am thankful to the angels for the priceless Christmas gift they quietly gave to me that year.

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